FBS: Thock (race)
Biology and appearance Thock differ greatly between genders, and so will be seperated as such. Female Thock are amphibious, generally humanoid in form with large heads and torsoes. Their arms are longer than their legs and they are generally very stocky, stout creatures that stand at roughly 6 and a half feet tall. Females exhibit bioluminescence on their backs, bellies, joints, and their eyes. To other Thock, this can be used to display anger and in combat will glow violently in oranges and pinks. Otherwise it will gently glow yellow, except for mating season where it glows green, the more vibrantly, the more desirable the female appears and the more male partners she will have to choose from. Female Thock skin is scaled in some places on their back, and smooth like a newt/frogs on their bellies, the skin and scales are typically between green, rich navy blue, and sometimes black. Darker mates are also seen as attractive. They also have very large, sharp, and powerful jaws due to a diet of mainly fish. Due to the size of their enormous mouths, a Thock could, given the chance, bite off half of a limb or even the head of some creatures. Most female Thock would do so without blinking in combat. Female Thock have two sets of eyes. The smaller, lower eyes are most often used out of water and allow greater peripheral vision. The larger, higher up eyes are used in conjunction with the lower on land to see forward, and underwater used exclusively as they can see remarkably well in even a complete absence of light allowing them to hunt even at the lowest depths. The dangling tendrils beneath their jaw can detect the presence of blood in the water even at immense distances, similarly to a shark, making them nearly impossible to avoid while wounded in water. They can use these to detect blood while one dry land, but not from very far away. They would only be able to smell a wound within ten or so yards. Truly a female Thock is a horrifying sight to most of the other races, and one rightfully associated with savagery and death. Male Thock are far less imposing, standing at a mere 4 feet with brown, slimey skin and no bioluminescence. Males outnumber females greatly (typically to a clutch of eggs, 8 males will be born to every female), and make up the labor force, manufacturing duties, and other more trivial positions in society. They do have sharp teeth, but not nearly as large or terrifying, and typically the Males eath the leftovers of a female's meal. The males are also far less intelligent than females in Thock society. During mating season, male Thock will flock to females in great numbers, with those of the most vibrant bioluminescence sometimes having up to 70 or 80 suitors to choose from. Once a male is chosen, he will use his jaws to bite onto the female's back. Thereafter, the female will produce a special set of hormones that will cause the male to shed weight rapidly, becoming no larger than a foot long in a matter of days, and eventually shrinking as his face fuses to her to become an amorphous growth, little larger than 5 or 7 inches. This blob is basically just reproductive organs, which the female will use to fertilize her eggs once, after which the bump will remain on her back but will be useless. Once the female has fertilized her eggs, she will lay a clutch of roughly 20. Only 2 or 3 of these will be female Thock, the rest will be male. Mating season happens once every two years, and a female will take a new mate each time after reaching maturity, until she has 13 growths on her back and will stop laying eggs and taking mates. History EARLY THOCK HISTORY The earliest records of Thock history recount an event referred to as, 'The Bitter Assimilation'. This is a time, spanning a few dozen years, where the large ancestors of today's female Thock feasted upon other Thock of different racial variations. Long ago, there were many 'breeds' and 'races' of Thock beneath the waves, of various colors, sizes, temperments, and levels of sophistication. The predecessors of today's Thock ate them all, declaring themselves the most superior stock, eradicating all traces of biodiversity in their lineage and becoming a singular race. In this time they worshipped, 'Thurdanko' meaning, 'The Eater'. Thurdanko was essentially a giant fish that ate smaller fish to become even larger and clearly this philosophy was emulated by the Thock of the time. THE SCHISM At some point in time, likely hundreds of years ago though this is not agreed upon by historians, the singular mighty tribe of Thock split apart due to reasons unclear to us today. The tribe vowed that they would communicate regularly with each of the other factions, but fractured into groups which again fractured when they grew too large. Most assume and agree that this is because a single tremendous tribe was too difficult to control, especially with the violent tendencies of the Thock. It is also agreed that the Thock likely wished to split apart of explore and control a wider area. The resulting city states remain today, and continue to communicate and work together when necessary. FIRST CONTACT Some one hundred and thirty years ago, the Thock made contact with sentient alien life for the first time. One of their early spaceships encountered a Sjeniklik scouting craft, and coveting the superior space technology the Thock foolishly sought war. From space, however, the Sjeni had a terrible advantage and wreaked havoc upon the Thock cities of Canto. Eventually a treaty was signed. THE ULTOR TREATY After sixteen years of war, the Sjeniklik's ambassador met with the war queen Lurojag Ultor in her city of Ultorthock. The Ultor Treaty was signed, striking an alliance between the two races which would detailed and marked the formation of the Sendine Combine. With the resources and physical might of the Thock, and the technology and wisdom of the Sjeniklik, the combine would grow rapidly to stretch across several sectors. Psionic Potential The Thock are not one of the most psionically gifted races, though they are more in tune with psionic energies than Sjeniklik. Only female Thock are able to command psionic energies in any real capacity, as the males may be connected to psionic powers they cannot control it in any useful way. When a female accesses her psionic abilities, her bioluminescent glands will glow a crystal blue color with more intensity based on how powerful they happen to be. Thock tend to be naturally more inclined towards psionic abilities of bending and dominating the wills of others, making a powerful psionic warrior queen Thock a remarkably fearsome foe. In-game Stats Ideas Category:Sendine Combine Category:FBS:Race Category:Blind Seraph Category:Fyrea Category:Sentient